2016-02-08 Mon

Dmitri Mendeleev, a Russian chemist and an inventor, was born today, 8th February in 1834. He is often regarded as the father of the Periodic Table.

He formulated the Periodic Law, and is often credited for rightly correcting the already existing periodic table of elements and also for predicting the properties of eight elements yet to be discovered.

For his predicted eight elements, he used the prefixes of eka, dvi, and tri (Sanskrit one, two, three) in their naming. By giving Sanskrit names to his "missing" elements, Mendeleev showed his appreciation and debt to the Sanskrit grammarians of ancient India, who had created sophisticated theories of language based on their discovery of the two-dimensional patterns in basic sounds.

Noting that there are striking similarities between the periodic table and the introductory Shiva Sutra in Panini’s grammar, Mendeleev wanted to honour the Sanskrit grammarian of Ancient India, Panini.

Dmitri Mendeleev is honoured on many commemorative stamps, coins and miniature sheets. One such miniature sheet was released in 1969 to commemorate the centenary of Mendeleev’s Periodic System. This sheet depicts Mendeleev’s original hand written notes of the periodic table dated, 2nd February 1869.